Jessica Glenn’s Dream Comes True at XCF

Posted on by eatsleepwrestle

It’s the story I most wanted to put in We Are Grindhouse. It would have been the feel good story of the book. I’m not upset it didn’t happen in 2024. I’m thrilled to see it happen.

Seeing Shane Mercer on my Facebook feed first thing this morning was no surprise. XCF, the backyard fed of his youth he now runs at the Jeffersonville Arena, had a show last night. Posting his latest Moonsault and Battery is pretty much expected.

It’s who he gave the Moonsault and Battery that matters.

Jessica Glenn.

Jessica F-ing Glenn!

Wife. Mother. Former ROH roadie. Merch table maven. Girl Fight commentator.

To all those titles you can now add Professional Wrestler.

Jessica’s been part of the scene in Louisville and Southern Indiana ever since she moved here to be with her husband Nick. Her kids grew up in a play pen behind the merch tables she used to manage at IWA Mid-South. When I started the Grindhouse book, she was chasing her own wrestling dream, attending classes along side Allie Allbright, Vanessa Holiday, Dixie Douglas, and The Lovely Miss Larkan.

I’ll borrow liberally from We Are Grindhouse here to fill in her backstory,, because it’s a story worth sharing in this moment.

Born and raised in Fairhaven, Vermont, Jessica discovered wrestling as a kid during the Attitude Era. The on-going stories drew her in as much as the theatrics, and she soon became an indie fan thanks to a co-worker of her dad’s.

“Dad worked at Kmart for like twenty years. He had a co-worker who was part of an indie group called Tri-State Wrestling in Rutland, and he told my Dad to come to one of the shows.”

Jessica and her father became regulars at Tri-State. Her dad helped the ring crew set up for each show. When Tri-State got their own building and opened a wrestling school, Jessica signed up. She was in the seventh grade, only thirteen years old.

Her training came to an end after a few months when Tri-State lost their building, but she found another way to get into the business. Two friends she’d met at the Rutland shows, Mary and Wayne, worked for Ring of Honor. By 2002, Jessica was traveling with Ring of Honor, setting up the ring and working tech with Mary and Wayne.

Thanks to a friendship with Jay Lethal, Jessica nearly made a second attempt at training. “Jay had a school in Jersey City, 45 minutes away from my grandma. The day I graduated high school, I packed all my things to move in with Grandma and train with Jay. I chickened out at the last minute, and I called my parents to bring me home.”

Jessica stayed with Ring of Honor until 2008. In March of that year, she met Nick Maniwa on Myspace, and they hit it off. She traveled to Louisville, Kentucky in May of 2008 to meet Nick in person. She relocated permanently in the fall.
IWA Mid-South became Jessica’s new pro wrestling family. She worked the merch tables and enjoyed a ringside seat to every show.

Nick and Jessica got married. They had two kids, who grew up in The Arena. Then life started to unravel for Jessica. Her father passed away from lung cancer on April 10, 2020. Her mother died on April 10, 2021.

“It still blows my mind that it happened that way,” says Jessica. “At least I’ve only got to be sad on one day.”

Jessica used food to cope with the loss of her parents. When IWA Mid-South imploded in 2022, her depression grew worse. An only child, Jessica had lost her real family and her wrestling family in a span of two years. She gained a lot of weight.

Jessica finally realized she needed to do something. “I felt like I owed it to my parents to get healthy again and live my life,” she says. “I started working out and losing weight. Then a friend of mine said, ‘Why don’t you start training again?’

“I thought about my kids. I wanted my kids to be happy and live their dreams, and I saw a chance to prove to them they can do that. I was killing it in the gym, and I knew what it was going to take. Why couldn’t I get in the ring at 35?”

Jessica is in class every Sunday, the one day of the week she has available. When it’s her turn to work, the eyeglasses come off and she slides in the ring. Most of her classmates are younger, but they embrace her as family, especially the ladies, who have formed a special bond outside the ring.

“I was the only woman for a while,” says Allie Allbright. “It makes me more comfortable having other women here. We’re all still learning so much, and we have our own group chat. We help each other with rides. We’ve grown so close.”

Jessica’s training, at that time, came to an end in the spring of 2024. Family came first, and Jessica was willing to sacrifice her own dreams to do what needed to be done. But you got a sense the dream wasn’t over. Just delayed.

In February Jessica became one of the on-air commentators for the revived Girl Fight promotion under Billie Starkz. It was an exciting moment for her and those who have followed her. But not near as exciting as what happened last night.

Jessica waited a long time for that moment. She gave me a winking hint at Grindhouse two weeks ago that “something” was going to happen at XCF. Sure enough, it did.

Two days after her birthday on the eve of Mother’s Day, Jessica Glenn entered a Rumble at XCF.

She delivered a Royal Butterfly to Angel Metro.

She slapped Shane Mercer in the face.

She took a Moonsault and Battery.

What a debut.

Congratulations, Jessica. Here’s hoping this is not an end point, but a new and exciting beginning!